I wrote the following e-mail to Taylor Radig of Vegan Outreach:

I Googled my local Panda Express and was led to this link:

https://www.pandaexpress.com/menu/entrees/eggplant-tofu

As you can see, it says it has nothing vegetarian.

On the very same page that came up on through the Google search, this came up:

https://www.pandaexpress.com/menu

It says it does have vegan options.

So I called a nearby PE to make sure. Someone answered whom it seems English wasn't his first language, and he'd never heard of the word "vegan", nor the changes that had been made. I told him "vegan" was like "vegetarian", but no eggs or dairy. He understood that, but said they don't even have vegetarian because they cook everything on a non-dedicated grill. Maybe that's okay, but I'm unclear if he, or maybe other locations, even know about the announced changes or what veganism is.

How well was this orchestrated? If these places only add vegan options grudgingly, without understanding, or just to get vegans off their back, maybe they shouldn't be so enthusiastically publicized.

Just offering some feedback. I'm a little disappointed. Their tofu eggplant and chow mein, which I haven't had in years, looked inviting, and the locations are very convenient.

Has anyone tried Panda Express since Feb. 27? If so, how was your experience?

I stay away from Panda Express. There are so many other Asian restaurants that do have vegan options. The "Loving Hut" Asian/fusion vegan restaurant has locations all over the world. The Veggie Grill is another large vegan restaurant chain.
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I have stayed away from it, having read it didn't have anything vegan. But lots of vegan/vegetarian organizations launched a major e-mail writing and petition signing campaign, and announced they'd agreed to serve a few vegan options. It's hyped all over the Net:



https://www.peta.org/living/food/panda-express-vegan/


They're much cheaper than most other vegan restaurants with vegan options, open daily with longer hours. And there's one very close to my home.